Email Marketing RulesThe Most Critical Email Deliverability Questions
Posted on October 3, 2023
The most critical email deliverability questions are YOUR QUESTIONS. That’s why Oracle Marketing Consulting’s veteran Email Deliverability Services team made themselves available to answer questions from the digital marketing community during a special open forum webinar. Chances are you have many of the same questions that were raised by your peers about Mail Privacy Protection, Gmail pre-fetching, Link Tracking Protection, and other topics.
You can watch the full webinar included to get detailed answers to all of the questions, but in this blog post we also wanted to share short answers in 30 words or less for some of the questions.
Accepting that You Can’t Change People… or Subscribers or Inbox Providers
Posted on October 2, 2023
You can’t change people. You can only change how you react to them.
That is something we say a lot in our household. It’s a hard-won pearl of wisdom from years of working with therapists so my wife and I can be better parents to our autistic son, be better spouses to each other, and better cope with the passing of our parents and other stresses.
I’ll be honest, this lesson has been particularly hard for me to learn. Empathy is hard. It can be difficult to accept that other people don’t view things in the same way you do, and that other people’s logic doesn’t work like yours does. That kind of acceptance can be painful, even identity-crushing.
I see this same resistance in some of my fellow marketers, who resist accepting the email channel as it is, especially as it evolves. Instead, they try to bend it so it conforms to their worldview. Consumer behaviors become problems. Inbox providers’ rules become unfair. Blocklist operators’ actions become unjust.
Here are some examples of marketers struggling unnecessarily against the realities of the email channel…
Get Inspiration from Our Holiday Subject Line Word Cloud
Posted on September 26, 2023
As you plan your holiday promotional email campaigns, you’ll certainly want to draft subject lines for your intended campaigns. In fact, you’ll want to write multiple subject lines for each one so you can do some A/B testing. To get you inspired, we created a holiday subject line word cloud based on more than 700 subject lines used by national retailers between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, 2022.
If you’re unfamiliar with word clouds, the more frequently a word is used, the larger it is in the word cloud. So, for instance, some of the most commonly used words in our word cloud include: get, holiday, gifts, deals, save, last, ends, and now.
While that’s interesting, Kelly Moran and I take a deeper dive into what this word cloud reveals about email subject line writing during the holidays and how that can help you write better holiday subject lines.
The Business Storytelling Show: The Email Marketing Rules to Follow
Posted on September 21, 2023
Some email marketing rules are legally required. Others are essentially required by inbox providers. And still others are driven by the expectations of subscribers.
That was the core of the conversation I had with The Business Storytelling Show podcast host Christoph Trappe about email marketing and the 4th edition of Email Marketing Rules.
On the show, we talk about:
- Why there are so many rules to follow
- Who the five stakeholders are for the email marketing channel
- How email marketers and marketing leaders bump heads
- How to simplify email marketing approvals and workflows
- How email service providers can help marketers follow the rules
- How best practices don’t keep brands from expressing their brand voice
- The importance and impact of permission on your sender reputation
Listen to The Business Storytelling Show wherever you get your podcasts or…
The Future of Content Marketing: 5 Predictions
Posted on September 15, 2023
While my first love is email marketing, my second is most assuredly content marketing. For me, the two have always gone hand in hand. During my 17 years in the email marketing industry, I’ve written nearly 4,000 blog posts and articles about email and digital marketing, posted about 20,000 social media updates, given more than 100 webinars, done dozens of podcasts, and presented and keynoted at dozens of events. Oh, and sent a lot of emails promoting all of that content.
All of that is to say that I really love content marketing—which is why I was excited to read the second edition of Epic Content Marketing by Joe Pulizzi and Brian Piper. The book concludes with a look at the future of content marketing, which inspired me to share the five trends I think will drive the next 10 years of content marketing.
>> Read the entire article on Oracle’s Modern Marketing Blog
7 of My All-Time Favorite Email Subject Lines & Why
Posted on September 11, 2023
All email marketers understand how critical subject lines are to generating engagement with their messages. That’s why subject lines are tested far more than hero images, calls-to-action, and any other email element.
To help inspire you, I want to share seven of my all-time favorite email subject lines. However, these aren’t just inspiring subject lines. They illustrate seven ingredients you can use to create compelling envelope content. Understanding these ingredients can allow you to better select which ones to use for a particular message and to understand which ones are resonating with your audience so you can better optimize your subject lines.
Okay, here are my seven favorite email subject lines…
The Best Use Cases for Unique Generative AI-Crafted Emails, Unfortunately
Posted on September 7, 2023
I’m hearing about more and more startups and other tech providers offering brands the ability to use generative AI to create unique marketing emails tailored to individual recipients based on collected data. While there’s undoubtedly a range of potential uses for this kind of capability, I see two as being the most likely use cases:
- Bulk cold email outreach
- Phishing emails
The former is a relatively benign, yet annoying form of spam, while the latter is classic malicious spam. Both would benefit from generative AI in a few ways…
CSS-Based Interactive Emails: Use Cases & Considerations
Posted on September 5, 2023
Email interactivity brings common web and app experiences into the inbox. In addition to allowing brands to more efficiently use limited real estate in emails, especially above the fold, interactivity significantly lowers the barrier for subscribers to act.
While it may seem like an email interaction and an email click would be the same amount of effort, particularly since many interactions involve a click, subscribers don’t see them as being equal. In some cases, email interactions occur at up to twice the rate of email click throughs to landing pages. Those interactions not only make subscribers more likely to engage with future emails, but when subscribers who have engaged with interactive email content click through to a landing page, they’re significantly more likely to convert.
The Last Word on August 2023
Posted on September 1, 2023
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, and social buzz you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & reports
Only A Small Percentage Of Firms Are Compliant With CCPA And CPRA, Study Finds (MediaPost)
AI Is Killing the Old Web, and the New web Struggles to be Born (The Verge)
Experian Violated CAN-SPAM Law, FTC Charges (MediaPost)
A Clothing Brand’s Email Claimed to Be From a Neighbor Watching Recipients in Their Underwear. Some Customers Aren’t Happy. (Wall Street Journal)
Undeliverable: Email Teams Face Inbox Challenges (MediaPost)
How Do Videos and Gifs Impact Your Email Click Rate? (AWeber)
Insightful & entertaining social posts
If I have to reply with the word “unsubscribe” then I was never *subscribed* in the first place thankyouverymuch
— Val Geisler (@lovevalgeisler) August 7, 2023
With all of the recent #cdp announcements, this feels like the most appropriate response… pic.twitter.com/IE88XHhUzs
— Stephanie Griffith (@QueenDTC) August 15, 2023
I’ve seen a lot of emails, and this is the most words I’ve ever seen in a button. pic.twitter.com/bDNIkpgp2e
— Alex Williams (@alexcwilliams) August 21, 2023
Noteworthy subject lines
MoMA Design Store, 8/7 – Rewards First Look! 2023 Holiday Cards
Crate & Barrel, 8/4 – Halloween starts now 🎃
West Elm, 8/22 – Fall-ready (& frightfully fun) front door decor
Michaels, 8/25 – Drop that latte! Spice up your pumpkin season with up to 50% off fall décor collections.
Nordstrom, 8/12 – Celebrate Black Business Month with us
Crate & Kids, 8/22 – Gear up for school with new furniture + 30% off select backpacks!
Chubbies, 8/14 – Enroll for Thigher Education today
Fanatics.com, 8/25 – Get Kickoff Ready –> Take Up to 65% Off
Gap Labor Day Event, 8/30 – Announcing up to 70% off! You’re going to love these long-weekend deals
Goldbelly, 8/30 – LAST CHANCE for Labor Day!
Columbia Sportswear, 8/9 – Fishing shoes that perform on and off the water.
Abercrombie & Fitch, 8/27 – Almost you-know-what weather.
The Hustle, 8/8 – 👖 Find pants with AI
Uncommon Goods, 8/17 – 10 products you won’t find on Amazon
Uncommon Goods, 8/22 – 10 things you can only find here
Nuts.com, 8/9 – Come on, Barbie, Let’s Go SNACKING 💕
West Elm, 8/14 – Custom sofas & sectionals now ship in 3 weeks!
Gap Friends & Family, 8/9 – @Everyone: 40% OFF EVERYTHING just dropped
Clinique Online, 8/22 – Big zit, big night? Here’s what to do.
Clinique Online, 8/25 – 3 quick looks ⚡ Get out the door fast.
Quiksilver, 8/9 – Highlining with Griffin Colapinto
Art.com, 8/14 – Modern masters artist series: meet Mark Rothko.
Allbirds, 8/15 – Allbirds ✕ Zipeng Zhu Is Here
The North Face, 8/22 – The North Face X CDG collab drops today
Camping World RV, 8/25 – Introducing the new line of Eddie Bauer RVs!
West Elm, 8/27 – August roundup: Cool new collabs, Halloween & more
Bitly Team, 8/29 – Move over, Barbenheimer.
Inside CNN, 8/9 – Celebrating 100 editions of ‘Inside CNN’
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
Your Most Important Job as an Email Marketer Is…
Apple’s Link Tracking Protection: The Impact on Email & Other Channels
Rightsizing Your Use of Digital Marketing Agencies
The B2B Content Show: Has Generative AI Established a New Content Floor?
AI-Generated Code: Generative AI Concerns & Opportunities for Marketers
Webbula: What’s One Tool Email Marketers Aren’t Using But Should?
Picking the Right Sender Name: Brand or Person?
The Gmail Promotions Tab: 10 Years of Email Marketing Misunderstandings
Your Most Important Job as an Email Marketer Is…
Posted on August 30, 2023
When you saw the headline for this post, what did you think? Perhaps you thought…
- To get your campaign opened?
- To get your campaign clicked?
- To get a campaign conversion?
To explore your options for where to put your focus…
Welcome! Email Marketing Rules is your guide to understanding the best practices of this complex, often misunderstood channel as you craft the best executions for your brand. Every week, we’ll explore strategies and tactics, discuss tips and inspiration, and dig into industry news and trends.
Chad S. White
Head of Research
Oracle Digital Experience Agency
Author of Email Marketing Rules and nearly 4,000 articles about digital and email marketing
